Director Danny Boyle’s grisly real-life drama of an eccentric hiker forced to cut off his arm to free himself from a trapped boulder gave assistant editor Shane Reid of The Whitehouse all the inspiration he needed to win First Prize in the 2011 AICE L.A. Chapter Camp Kuleshov trailer-editing competition.
Reid’s trailer transformed 127 Hours into an experimental 1970’s grind house horror flick, with a variety of visual techniques such as color palette changes, reframed scenes and distressed images. He also made good use of the film’s unsettling sequences in which actor James Franco amputates his arm to nail the horror film look and feel.
For his efforts, Reid was presented with a check for $1,000 and an Avid Media Composer 5 at the 5th Annual L.A. Camp Kuleshov awards presentation, which took place on Nov. 15 in the parking lot of Optimus, Santa Monica.
Reid’s winning entry, along with the Second and Third Place winners and the two Honorable Mention trailers, can be screened at the Camp Kuleshov L.A. page on the AICE website by clicking here.
Second Place went to assistant editor Brian Leong of Union Editorial for his trailer which pitches the 2010 Oscar-winner Black Swan as a dramedy. Leong reframes the chilling picture as a lighthearted story of a young dancer’s search for love in the big city. Leong won $500 and an Avid Media Composer in recognition of his efforts.
Third Place went to assistant editor Ben McCambridge of Final Cut, who also chose Black Swan. His trailer sells the picture as an action/fantasy film in which the central character, played by Natalie Portman, becomes a reluctant hero defending New Yorkers from dark, evil forces. His entry netted him a prize of $250 and a Studiophile Q40 headset.
Honorable Mentions went to assistant editor Charla Barker of Hybrid Edit for her version of The King’s Speech as a psychological thriller and to assistant editor Zach Vandlik of The Whitehouse for his take on 127 Hours, also as a psycho thriller.
The assignment for the 2011 edition of the LA Camp Kuleshov competition was to choose one of five films–127 Hours, The Fighter, Black Swan, The King’s Speech or The Social Network–and cut a 90-second trailer which promotes the film as a picture of a different genre.
The judges for the L.A. Camp Kuleshov competition included Zen Rosenthal of General Editorial, Jay Friedkin of Union, Greg Scuton of Arcade Edit, Steve Prestemon of the Whitehouse and Nathan Cali of Optimus. Mat Stevens of Chemical Effects created the opening and IDs for the awards presentation video. Avid provided prizes for the top three winning entries.
Review: Writer-Director Mark Anthony Green’s “Opus”
In the new horror movie "Opus," we are introduced to Alfred Moretti, the biggest pop star of the '90s, with 38 No. 1 hits and albums as big as "Thriller," "Hotel California" and "Nebraska." If the name Alfred Moretti sounds more like a personal injury attorney from New Jersey, that's the first sign "Opus" is going to stumble.
John Malkovich leans into his regular off-kilter creepy to play the unlikely pop star at the center of this serious misfire by the A24 studio, a movie that also manages to pull "The Bear" star Ayo Edebiri back to earth. How both could be totally miscast will haunt your dreams.
Writer-director Mark Anthony Green has created a pretty good premise: A massive pop star who went quiet for the better part of three decades reemerges with a new album — his 18th studio LP, called "Caesar's Request" — and invites a select six people to come to his remote Western compound for an album listening weekend. It's like a golden ticket.
Edebiri's Ariel is a one of those invited. She's 27, a writer for a hip music magazine who has been treading water for three years. She's ambitious but has no edge. "Your problem is you're middle," she's told. Unfortunately, her magazine boss is also invited, which means she's just a note-taker. Edebiri's self-conscious, understated humor is wasted here.
It takes Ariel and the rest of the guests — an influencer, a paparazzo, a former journalist-nemesis and a TV personality played by Juliette Lewis, once again cast as the frisky sexpot — way too much time to realize that Moretti has created a cult in the desert. And they're murderous. This is Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" crossed with Mark Mylod's "The Menu."
It's always a mistake to get too close a look at the monster in a horror... Read More